In Ark: A Promise of Survival

Book Summary

In the year 2044, Mya Brand lives in New York City and pursues her passion—trying to digitally save the life story of every human on the planet before climate change makes Earth un-liveable. Recovering from a failed marriage, she stays laser-focused on her mission. With support from her actress best friend and bartender buddy, she is rebuilding her life and trying to heal her hard shell.

Fraught with daily hardships of survival in the face of climate change, she struggles to obtain food, maintain resources and protect her delicate skin from the harmful rays of the sun. With little funding for her digital archiving project, she struggles to keep her dreams going, but wonders how much more she could accomplish if she had more resources.

Then, one day she is abducted by an eco-survivalist community— Ark— that promises to make her dreams come true.

Finally able to focus on her mission, she begins to thrive in her new, sheltered, life. Gone are the hardships she faced from the outside world and climate change. Gone are her money struggles.

But Ark proves not to be the utopia she expects.

#InArk joins a new genre of literature called cli-fi (climate change fiction). Devaney wrote this book with a female audience in mind, and wanted to appeal to women who enjoy science fiction. She was inspired to write the book by seeing the success won by E.L. James self-publishing her '50 Shades of Grey' first as an ebook. Other inspiration was 'The Hunger Games', as Devaney wanted to do for climate change what Suzanne Collins did for war -- make people understand, and care about these horrible threats.

Testimonials

Emma Harrison, writer, journalist and English literature graduate of Cambridge University: “In these times of environmental catastrophe, Lisa Devaney conjures up a near-future dystopia which feels all too likely to be realised. Wonderfully original in its ideas – read this to glimpse the future, if you dare!”

Rebecca Loughlin, Early Years Educator: “Great book! A mixture between The Hunger Games and The Host. Can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Monica Wanat, Editor: “Lisa Devaney’s debut novel follows the dark, futuristic tradition established by Blade Runner and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale – without being fan fiction of either. This novel creates its own unique world, characters, and issues and reveals the promise of this new author.”

Joe Follansbee, writer and journalist:“in Ark shows that even the most benign ideology, in this case, living “sustainably” in isolation from the dominant culture, is as insidious and hypocritical as any malignant set of ideas. In Ark serves as a warning to a society that faces serious dangers as the climate changes. We won’t find answers by withdrawing into a cocoon of dogma.”

About the Author

Lisa Devaney is an American indie author living in London, England. Her debut novel 'In Ark: A Promise of Survival' is a cli-fi (climate change fiction) story set in New York City in the year 2044. Living with the impact of climate change, the main character, Mya Brand, struggles to survive until she is abducted by an eco-survivalist community that promises that her dreams will come true.

The author has spent a lifetime fascinated by the various storytelling mediums. As a child, she wrote and illustrated her own comic strip and won writing contests. Later, while single and living in New York City in the 1990's, she turned herself into an online cartoon character called (((Futuregirl))). She bravely decided to take her make-believe character offline and started performing in SLAM poetry-style. Soon, she became widely known and was often spotted out in the club scene dressed up as this superhero character. Moving to London in 2004, she took to the stage producing and performing her own cabaret shows, introducing audiences to her American hillbilly comedy skit 'The Hee Haw Whore House'.

Devaney also has a successful career as a publicist, including representing numerous technology clients through her consultancy the Hai Media Group. Prior to this, she had her career as an award-winning newspaper reporter. See: haimediagroup.com

Now part of the social media generation, she has taken enthusiastically to this new storytelling medium. She can be found on Twitter (@lisadevaney) or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lisadevaneythewriter. Sign up for her newsletter at: lisadevaney.com